Chapter Seven

A/N: Crazygonutz- your reviews brighten my day! Thank you! You flatter me.

Disclaimer: All of the characters in this story belong to the unbelievably talented J.K. Rowling. . . not me.

            "What the bloody hell was that?!" Ron cried.

            "I don't know. . ." Hermione's eyes were wide.

            "It came from this way." Harry motioned down to the other side of the square. He, Ron, and Hermione made their way down to that part of Hogsmade. Harry had expected to see utter devastation and hear cries of despair; however that was most defiantly not the case. He had expected to be met with a Voldermort follower, not. . . the Weasley twins.

            "Fred?! George?!" Ron cried, utterly bewildered.

            "Oi, Ron!" Fred beamed at him.

            There was a large crowd gathered outside Zonko's Joke Shop, consisting of nearly all Hogwarts students. Fred and George were on top of a slightly raised platform, with a table sitting between them. A sign on the table flashed the words: "Weasley's Wizard Wheezers; Free trials today!"

            The crowd around them shrieked as George demonstrated the use of the Skiving Snack Boxes.

            "What are they doing here?" Hermione questioned.

            "Giving a demonstration." came a deep voice from behind them. The three of them turned around to see a man coming out of Zonko's Joke Shop. "It was the least I could do for them after all the publicity they gave my shop. I don't think I've ever had such dedicated customers." He smiled and joined the crowd (Note: I have NO IDEA as to who own the joke shop. If the book ever specifies, I do not recall. Sorry for the inaccuracy).

            "Of all the things to run into in Hogsmade. . ." Harry mused, a large smile on his face. It looked like the twins were doing all right.

            "Isn't it great?!" Ginny called. She had made her way to them through the crowd.

            Ron's head snapped to look at his sister. "Did you know about this?"

            "Of course I knew about it."

            "Why didn't anybody tell me?"

            "Cause you can't keep a secret!" Ginny smiled broadly and look back toward her two older brothers with a look of the greatest admiration.

            Fred was now calling people from the audience up onto the platform and gave them each a brightly colored sweet. The crowed cheered wildly as each of the students turned the color of the sweet they had just eaten.

            It wasn't until a half hour later that the demonstration ceased and the crowd thinned, allowing Harry, Ron, and Hermione to approach the twins.

            "Hey there!" George called gleefully.

            Ginny squealed and flung herself at her two older brothers.

            "What's all this about?" Ron questioned, glancing over to a barely visible Lee Jordan who was being mauled by students, who were trying to pay for some of the items the twins had brought to sell.

            "We figured that our shop was going to need a little marketing." Fred answered.

            "Because our quiet exit from Hogwats could not have gotten us nearly the amount of publicity we deserve." George added, stealing a sly glance at his twin.

            "Does Mum know about this?" Ron questioned, raising an eyebrow.

            "Not hardly, mate." Fred winked.

            "But we figure what she doesn't know won't hurt her right." George nudged Ron with his elbow.

            Hermione's face grew indignant. "Well!" She huffed.

            "Hermione. . ." Ginny began.

            "Well, yourself." George said.

            "How do you propose to keep this hidden from your Mum?"

            "How do we propose to keep this from our Mum, Fred?"

            "Well I'll tell you George."

            "By all means."

            "Oh why thank you." Fred placed his arm around Hermione's shoulders and leaned down so that his face was level with hers. "We plan, to not mention it."

            "Is that so?" she asked.

            "Yes, it is so, isn't it George?"

            "That's what we plan on doing, you know."

            "What's to keep me from writing and telling her myself?" Hermione said airily.

            "Ah, we've thought of that as well." George said. He ducked down into a bag that sat on the platform and pulled out four Skiving Snack Boxes.

            "You're going to bribe us?" Hermione questioned.

            Harry doubled over with laughter at the look on Hermione's face. It was a mix of indigence and shock, which seemed to suit her quite well.

            "What's Hermione going to do with a Skiving Snack Box?" Ginny asked.

            Ron began to snigger.

            Fred shrugged, "It was worth a try."

            "How'd we do today Lee?" George called over to his friend.

            "Not bad at all."

            Fred strode over to his friend and began counting the pieces of gold that lay inside the bag he was holding. As the smile began to grow on his face George rushed over and began counting himself.

            "How much did you make?" Ron asked his brother, now intrigued with their business success.

            "Now, little brother, what kind of business men would we be if we just divulged our daily earnings with anyone who wanted to know." George said, as Ginny leaned over and began to peek inside the bag.

            "Yes, ickle Ronnikins, that would make us poor business men for sure." Fred chimed in.

            "But Lee knows." Ron pointed out.

            "Yes well Lee's practically like a brother to us." Fred replied.

            "I AM your brother!"

            "Nicely spotted." George said.

            "Now you know why I get so upset dealing with you, Ron." Hermione joined the conversation. "All the Weasley boys must be incredibly thick."

            "I resent that!" Ron's face twisted into a scowl. "I'm not thick!"

            "You could have fooled me."

            "If you two lovebirds are done with your little row, Fred and I would like to get going." George smiled at his brother and his best friend. Ron and Hermione were in the process of turning very red and telling George off when Fred pulled Harry aside.

            "Thanks mate."

            "You're doing well then?" Harry asked.

            Fred held up the bag of Galleons. "We're doing wonderfully." A mischievous smile crept onto his face, "Those two fight like they're cash and carried." (yay! I caught on a little bit to Cockney, rhyming slang. Or at least I hope a did. . . anyway: cash and carried = married).

            Harry rolled his eyes. "I hadn't noticed."

            "What does your mother say about those two, now that they've gone and made themselves a joke shop?" Hermione asked Ron as the three of them made their way back to the castle in the growing darkness, Ginny having departed their company.

            "Surprisingly, not much. I suppose her dream of them working at the Ministry like Dad fizzled out after last year."

            A heavy silence grew around them at the mention of the ministry. The past couple of months at Hogwarts had been the strangest they'd had so far. Nothing had been going on. The Ministry was quiet. Voldermort was quiet. Even Malfoy was quiet. They had gotten to just be normal students this year. The three of them hadn't had to deal with anything out of the ordinary. As much as they had always been nervous thinking of what was happening, they worried even more when there was nothing there to worry about.

            "Has anyone seen Neville?" Ginny questioned as Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat themselves down at the Gryffindor table for dinner later that evening.

            "Dean and Seamus asked me the same thing in Hogsmade today." Harry told her.

            "You know, I haven't seen Neville in a while. . ." Hermione mused.

            "That's odd." Ron said.

            "Yeah." Ginny scrunched up her face in thought. "You don't think anything's happened to him do you?"

            "I don't know." Harry shrugged. "The last time I saw Neville was lunch on Friday, and he didn't look too good."

            "He was hardly himself." Hermione added.

            "Maybe he's gotten the flu or something." Ginny said. "He's probably just sick in the hospital wing."

            "Maybe. . ." Harry said.

            "So what are you going to do with that?" Ron questioned Hermione later on that night in the common room while Harry was at his Occlumency lesson.

            Hermione continued to frown at her Skiving Snack Box that was sitting on the table in front of the couch she was sitting on. "I'm not sure. Maybe I'll send it to your Mum and have her deal with those two.

            Ron raised an eyebrow. "You'd do that?"

            "You don't think I would?"

            "No."

            "You're right." Hermione sighed.

            "Come again?"

            "I said you're right."

            "I know that's what you said; I just rather liked the sound of Hermione Granger telling someone else they were right. Especially me." Ron grinned at her.

            Hermione threw the couch pillow and hit him squarely in the face. "You want it?" she motioned to the Skiving Snack Box.

            "Sure!" Ron picked up the box of sweets and opened it. "I think this is one of Fred and George's better ideas."

            "Hum." Hermione had opened a book from seemingly nowhere and began to read.

            "Why is it that you always managed to find a book?" Ron's attention was once more brought back to the girl sitting beside him, rather than the box of sweets in his hands.

            "Why is it that you always manage to interrupt me when I do have time to read a book?" she retorted, not glancing up from the volume.

            "You're fighting a loosing battle, Ron." Ginny had just entered the common room and sat down beside her brother.

            "Where've you been?" Ron questioned.

            "What's it to you?" Ginny replied.

            "I'm your brother. I have a right to know if you've been out at all hours of the night doing who knows what."

            "You know you kind of sound like Mum when you talk like that."

            "Don't change the subject."

            "First off Ron, I was gone for maybe an hour, and it's only eleven o'clock. Secondly, I was at the hospital wing."

            Ron's quizzical look was quickly replaced by concern, "Are you okay? What happened to you?" He began looking at her arms as if expecting to see evidence of a broke bone Madame Pomfrey had not healed properly.

            "Nothing's wrong with me Ron. I went to go see if Neville was all right."

            "How is he?" Hermione closed her book.

            "I don't know."

            "What do you mean?" Hermione questioned the younger witch.

            "He wasn't there."

            "He wasn't?"

            "No." Ginny shook her head. "Madame Pomfrey told me not to worry and that Neville was just fine. I tried to find out where he went but she wouldn't answer me."

            "Hum. . ." The wheels in Hermione's head were turning at a rapid rate. Where was Neville? What was wrong with him? All of this was very odd. . .

A/N: Theaudience, thank you SO much for letting me know my back-story was off. There are just certain things that get by me. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Ginny wasn't actually on the Quidditch team was she? So for the sake of that, well say that Mrs. Weasley had qualms with her only daughter going into the sport, and decided to hold her back a year? A stretch, I know. There is only one spot with which I beg to differ. This is taking place in the sixth book, so our trio would only be in their sixth year. Meaning they would all be sixteen, right? As for all the other stuff, you are 100% right, how could I miss all that? I apologies to everyone. I'm going to go through and revise!